Syndicate

Mar. 31st, 2018

so good news bad news, i got into this art program out of state where they don't need like a ged to let you in or whatever and i found out the girl i was with at the place from before is dead, so. it's kind of like the universe doing its thing. i'm bailing, i guess and i don't want the super awkward stuff so you can write me [email address] but not here. i figured one last town thing was kind of the goodbye party. i love you and i'll visit maybe when i'm on a break and not super poor.

[Minis]

[Not a forum post. She sends the latest thing learned in a tin to the last address she has, and the note is on sketchpad-paper, folded in half on top of the cake, with an email address for contact.]

i hate goodbyes so it's not a goodbye? thank you for the lessons, i'm way better at not burning stuff to shit now. not-goodbye, H]

[Martins]

[They get a proper card, sent through the mail like a normal human. In it, there's a longer snippet from the course that she's going on, a program of classes and she's scrawled on it 'thank you for believing i could do it'. Inside, it's a giant, hand-illuminated 'thank you' and not a lot else, apart from email address.]

[Clary House: past and present]

so hey, thanks for being awesome people to live with. i'm kind of leaving town, which i figured i should probably say but Destiny, i paid rent through April and you shouldn't have any problem with getting someone cool to live here, it's a really nice place.

Mar. 4th, 2018

Alexander+, Oliver K, Atticus M

[Alexander+ Lock: Sam M+Lou D+Manning T+Iris M+Leo B+Julia L+Daniel W]Me and Sam are going on vacation and just wanted you all to know. Anybody got any interest in watching the store for us? We got one kid working there. Lou knows him. Oliver.

[News: Repose to Capital to Second City]

[Graffiti pops up in the early evening. Bright yellows and shocking blues and vibrant reds. The graffiti is spray paint in photo-realism on the side of Repose's buildings, on the sidewalks, on the highway overpass and onto the ramp leading to the Capital. The same shocking splotches of color are visible on the long drive leading to the Capital, though there aren't familiar faces to be found in those modernistic arrows that point the way.

In the Capital, the breadcrumbs become harder to follow. Here, the shrieks of color tangle with tags and territory markers, but a careful eye can locate them where they embrace on local walls and in faded places. They lead to Second City, to beyond the market inside the walls, beyond the established communities within, and to a festival brightness and chaos beyond. Color explodes there brighter and more vivid than the paint sprayed onto walls and sidewalks and streets. All are welcome. Music is rhythmic, intense and wild, and there are hundreds gathered in bare skin and colorful garb, celebrating everything and nothing as the night darkens and prepares to kiss an uninhibited dawn.]

Feb. 25th, 2018

[She links to an external file hosted on the college server. It's fruit. OK, it's not shit-hot but it's color which is not her thing and it's not ink pen and pencil which is not her thing.]

class is way better than it ever was when I was a kid. how you doing after the shit with the nightmares?

[delivery: Misha B/Damian W]

[She sends it late, because it was meant to go before the nightmares locked the town down when the guy who'd run the class had posted the recipe on Instagram or something. So she sends halwa in a tin that looks like it held super-cheap candy bought over Christmas. Holly sticks a note on the front, a square of art-book paper and the scrawl is black ink in thin artist-nib pen, 'I don't think I screwed this up. H']

[public]

The town seems to be flush with new arrivals, so I thought I would advertise my services as an antiques dealer. I have some stock catalogued on the internet, but digging in the back rooms often unearths other unusual finds. I can also look for you if you have a wishlist.

Feb. 15th, 2018

"Delivery"

[Not really a delivery. It's left right by Sam's pillow after Cris gets up to go to the store on the 14th. It ain't much, but inside a mug, bent to fit, is a card. Cris scrawled inside: You're sure lucky, ain't you? - C]

Feb. 12th, 2018

[Multiple locks]

[It's all individual - not a group lock - but the same message goes to everyone she knows: Sam and Cris, Aedan, Patrick, Destiny, Dahlia, Steve, Liam, Seven, Daniel. (If your kid is missing and they know each other, give me a heads-up. I didn't mean to leave anyone out!)]

Jan. 4th, 2018

[Dahlia H, Patrick G, Daniel W, Cris M/Sam M, Aedan B, Steve M]

[Several days into the new year, when she's finally received all of her gifts, had a chance to look through everything, and hide it. Then she has to go through the process again, as she's moved from one level of the center to another. They tell her that the first part of her stay there is over, that her withdrawl dymptoms should start to ease, but there are still so many that linger. Nevertheless, she gets a new (not quite so spartan or supervised) room. And a tiny step up in "freedoms".]

[Dahlia]hey. wanted to thank you for teh books. i'm still working my way throuhg the first one because my attention gets kinda fucked up, but so far so good. [...] i really apreciate it.

[Patrick][She's not the best at drawing, and her lines are a little shaky in addition to that, but she manages a "big-circle, two-little-circles" version of a mouse and puts eyes and a smiley face on it. Then it gets a speech bubble:]thank you for the cute mouse. i keep it on the little shefl right by my bed in my new room. it makes me smile when i look at it.

[Daniel][This gift was unexpected in every way, and it means she doesn't quite know what to say in thanks. The necklace itself has been hidden as well as she can, tucked in her things. She's honestly suprised that they actually gave it to her, box and all.]daniel,thank you for the nekclace. it's beautiful. i hope you didn't spend too much on it, as i cant give a gift in return right now. i dont know when i'll have a chance to wear it but i'll keep it safe until then.thank you,marta (sunshine)

[The Martins]thank you guys so much for the gifts. i'm not sure whne i'm going to get a chance to use any of it, but hopefully before anything expires. you really didnt need to get me anything, but thank yuo for doing it.-marta

[Aedan]aedan,thank you os much for everything you sent to me for christmas. i think they didn't want to give me the tea, but they couldn't find anythign wrong with them, so i did get them. i'm kinda hiding all the food for now but i had jsut a little of the peanut butter fudge. i dont go outside yet, but i've been wearing everything else.thank you,marta

[Steve]thank you again for evverything you got for me for christmas.-marta